Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-10-15

ilN0 INV INV ~ 'p "
win you not be good enough 10 have
il returnedP'
1.-THE guitar was returned 10 hel
forthwith AS quickly IA the man could
in her thanks. and the light in tie
Younger sisters eyes at the salvation
of the instrument indicated how highly
it was valued. The corn and supplies
they did not appear to grieve over par.
ularly, as | prevented any destruction
of the cribs or unnecessary damage to
he property. Consequently | was
very Hospitality received in the house.
The family consisted of An old gentle.
man named Sunderland. his wife and
three daughters. Sunderland was 2
well to do planter, though too old to
take arms. He was a doctor 10y pro-
fession and a Methodist preacher by
choice. His family circle was, in its
refinement and the beauty of the girls,
something charming, particularly to a
horse soldier who for some years had
known only the roughness of the camp.
The eldest daughter was married, her
husband being a captain in the Con
federate army. The other two were
u fair petitioners, and with them |
enjoyed a ilattoring popularity from
the start"
The commander. in-chief stopped and
gazed with Il satisfied smile into the
Alabama OF twenty years age.
avail ~ hn 1n;I ,,.l;,, an <hn
thread of the story, II need only say
that their fate was in my hands, that
all is fair in love and war. and that
from that day forth l simply
owned the place, corntields, niggers,
guitars and Methodist preachers, all
included. And, gentlemen'-and he
dwealt with some particular meaning
emphasis upon the '.and"-'she,"'
Ellen, was 10 and | was %.
During the mex two months all our
feraging somehow was in their direc-
ton. 1t seemed, perhaps, TO the horses,
that everything available in the food
line had migrated to the district back
of the Sunderland plantation, which
had to be passed in order to light on
anything at all. There was something
about the Sunderland cuisine, too, that
must have appeared very tempting to
my men. for did not willingly. | be-
lieve. miss a meal, Ellen and /. in
fact, were constantly together. The
cid folks made no objection. The.blue
ey es of the golden haired sister beamed
the sweatest kind of approval, the days
were long, and the twilights of the
dim old fir woods perfect, and be-
l!eve | mentioned the fact, gentlemen"
said the commander-in-chief with "A
sigh ''that she was nineteen and | was
twenty-three.
81 might remark parepthetically that
there is nothing in life quite SO fascin-
ating us to be isolated in the wilder
ness in company with a beautiful
woman. Several books have been
written with that one idea 10 carry
them. and, like Charles Reade's Foul
Play they have always caught the
public's eye. There was no sentinen-
tai talk between us. The crack of the
guerilla rifle, the distant boom of
battle, the war smoke in the air, and
the period when no one knew what
a day might bring forth, were very
i'll adapted for sincere love making,
and that anything in the shape
of man could have made love to Ellen
Sunderland ~insincercly it would take a
pretty bitter cynic to believe. But we
were together none the less; together
wnen the tree shadows crept slowly
acress the hot, still, brown fields, rs
the sun sank lower and lower toward
the mountains SUBMITS; together in
the stiffness and loneliness of the moss
grown aisles Of the woods; in the Don
tide heat; together when the big. round
harvest moon hung still and simmer
ing like Il great sheet of gold balanced
against the black velvet wall of the
autumn night universe. What we said
and what we did and what we thought
it matters not 1t would be to you
very like a chestnut, perhaps, to dwell
upon it. Every woman knows who
has ever been 10; every mar remeEi
bers who knew what it was 70 be %.
Nv ell, one day when ] entered the
i0uSC L HSi - bul ~ iS'. H"' btdl
rumOrs Of there being a wounded con-
federate officer in hiding at the Sun,
derlands. | paid no attenuon to them,
however, believing them to be without
foundation. But on this dav, unterisg
the house rs usual without knocking,
opened the door Of the reception room.
or parlor, the first door on The right
hand side of the hall, which ran through
the house. There was a larg- fireplace
in this or the side opposite the
door As | stepped in | sa" an easy
chair, high backed, in front of this fire.
was instantly conscious ia some way
for | certainly say nothing Of him
that q man. and a stranger. was sitting
in that chair. | did not attempt TO see
any more. ] stepped our, closed the
door, and quietly took a chair in the
sitting ROOF opposite. In a moment
or two the eldest dau liter came in
hurriedly, pale and agit ,ted.
MIR. -! she gasped, did you
/ 90 into the other roomP'
~ did, said |.
Ibid you see anybodyP
~ did not | answered, very
quietly. She looked me sqJarely in
the eye. / looked squarely back. She